Valley of the Suns
Fansided

The Phoenix Suns are favored to win over the best team in the East

By Adam Stratton

PHOENIX, AZ - NOVEMBER 12: Devin Booker #1 of the Phoenix Suns looks on during the game against the Los Angeles Lakers on November 12, 2019 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images)
PHOENIX, AZ - NOVEMBER 12: Devin Booker #1 of the Phoenix Suns looks on during the game against the Los Angeles Lakers on November 12, 2019 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The hot start to the Phoenix Suns season has come against some of the best teams in the league. That continues tonight against the Celtics, but after that, the schedule gets much easier.

The Phoenix Suns cap off their homes-stand by hosting arguably the best team in the league, the Boston Celtics tonight at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

That is a familiar line isn’t it?

The Phoenix Suns play what may be the best team in the league.

It is true. Between the LA Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers, the (equally surprisingly hot) Miami Heat, Denver Nuggets, Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz, and the Golden State Warriors, the Suns’ early season schedule has been packed full of playoff shoe-ins.

And yet, they still sit at 7-4, currently good for 5th place in the daunting Western Conference.

The Celtics come to town with the best record in the East, at 10-2, however, like so many other teams including the Phoenix Suns, they will be without one of their best players, as I-was-just-getting-good-again Gordon Hayward who broke his hand last week.

The absence of their star player hadn’t slowed them down until last night when they fell to the Sacramento Kings by one point.

That could be a sign of weakness, but it could also serve as motivation to not overlook anyone, and they could come to Phoenix on a revenge mission.

Having said that, the Suns have to love the idea of playing a great team of the Celtics’ caliber when they are coming off a back-to-back while the Suns have just had three days without a game which included no travel day.

Here is the next best part for the Suns: after having come out relatively clean after this murderous row of a early-season schedule, after tonight, their immediate future looks very favorable.

Save for a battle with the Denver Nuggets and the beatable Minnesota Timberwolves this coming weekend, the Suns won’t play a team with a winning record until December 7th when they travel to Houston to play the Rockets.

That means they will likely be favored in seven of their next nine games, and it could be eight depending on what odds-makers say about the aforementioned game this weekend against the Wolves.

Oh, and by the way, the Suns are 3.5 point favorites against the Celtics tonight, odds courtesy of the Action Network.

Read that again.

The Phoenix Suns are favored to beat the best team in the Eastern Conference by 3.5 points.

I could write a while on that, but instead, just take a minute and let that soak in.

Next. Thank goodness the Suns can't afford load management. dark

If the Suns take down the Celtics tonight, they have a chance over the next few weeks to further catapult themselves into true-Western-power status.

Just in time to get Deandre Ayton back. Insert uh-oh face emoji here.

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